February  18,  1904. 
JOURNAL  CF  llOBFIGULTURE  AND  COTT^AGF  GARDENER. 
1:59 
to  possess  it  need  only  sow  some  seeds  in  spring  in  a  cold 
trame  or  in  a  cool  greenhouse,  and  to  give  the  seedlings  the 
ordinary  attention  of  other  perennial  flowers  when  in  a  young 
state.  Then,  when  the  plants  have  reached  a  stage  of  size 
at  which  they  may  be  safely  trusted  to  look  after  themselves 
with  a  little  attention  on  the  part  of  the  grower,  they  may 
be  planted  out  on  a  dry  and  sunny  rockery,  or  on  a  raised  border, 
if  in  light  soil  with  a  little  limestone  about  the  plant.  The 
plant  itself  is  not  showy,  but  withal  it  is  pretty.  Its 
botanical  name  is  Gnaphalium  or  Leontopodium  alpinum,  and 
it  belongs  to  the  composite  family.  It  grows  only  a  few  inches 
high,  and  is  prized  greatly  because  of  the  woolly  covering  of 
white  hairs  which  cover  the  whole  plant  and  the  large  white 
involucres  which  surround  the  small  and  rather  insignificant 
yellow  flowei-s.  If  the  plant  is  dried  it  is  almost  literally  what 
is  said  of  it  figuratively — everla.sting,  and  can  be  kept  for  years 
if  preserved  from  dust  and  damp.  In  wet  climates  it  is  just  as 
well  to  add,  it  is  advisable  to  screen  it  from  the  rains  of  winter 
Chrysanthemum,  General  Buller. 
by  a  sheet  of  glass,  a  slate,  or  a  piece  of  thin  wood  raised  a 
little  above  the  Edelweiss  so  as  to  give  plenty  of  air,  and  at 
the  same  time  to  throw  off  the  rain.  It  is  thoroughly  hardy 
and  perennial. — S.  A. 
Chrysanthemums  for  Decorative  Work. 
I  enclose  a  photo  of  a  spray  of  General  Buller  Chrysanthe¬ 
mum,  which  has  been  in  bloom  for  the  past  six  weeks,  carrying 
ten  flowers  on  the  spray,  besides  two  specimen  blooms.  I  think 
growers  ought  to  include  this  one  in  their  collections,  either  for 
market  or  private  use.  The  colour  is  a  very  telling  one,  and  the 
blooms  are  of  a  pleasing  size,  and,  grown  on  the  terminals,  it  is 
lovely.  A  few  varieties  besides  this  one  which  did  me  good 
service  in  the  past  season  are  Souvenir  d’Uno  Petito  Amie, 
Soleil  d’Octobre,  Frank  Willcox  (a  companion  to  Source  d’Or), 
and  the  lovely  type  Lilian  Bird,  also  Rayonnante,  all  grown  as 
bush  plants,  carrying  from  three  to  four  dozen  blooms.  I  think 
the  above  are  well  worth  growing  for  decorative  work.— 
J.  Towell,  The  Gardens,  Dunbarton,  Gilford,  Ireland. 
Jasminum  primulinum. 
This  is  a  great  object  of  interest  at  Gunnersbury  Park  just 
now  Resembling  in  liabit  J.  nudiflorum,  with  flowers  of  similar 
shape  and  colour  but  larger,  while  the  foliage  is  evergreen,  it 
may  yet,  to  use  the  words  of  Professor  Oliver,  “  be  regarded  as 
a  glorified  form  of  J.  nudiflorum.”  It  is  free  blooming,  tlie 
flowers  are  very  per.sistent,  and  hang  on  to  the  branches  till 
they  fade  It  is  a  yery  valuable  winter-flowering  plant  for  con¬ 
servatory  and  house  decoration,  and  will  no  doubt  become 
lar-cly  cult^ra'-cd  -  R.  D. 
Tropical  Plants  and  their  Treatment, 
Ill  the  whole  realm  of  gardening  probably  no  phase  of  work 
appeals  more  irresistibly  to  the  young  practitioner  than  the, 
culture  of  stove  plants.  Such,  at  least,  is  deduced  from  [la.st 
personal  experience  and  present  observation  of  our  gardeners  to 
be.  ’Midst  all  the  changeful  scenes  of  a  gardener’s  life  and 
they  are  many — it  is  not  infreciucntly  “off  with  the  old  love  and 
on  with  the  new,”  but  no  abatement  of  that  fascination  this 
subject  is  environed  with  has  ever  been  noticed,  and  in  spite  of 
fashion  or  of  fancy  we  have  here  attractions  which,  appari  iitlj', 
“age  cannot  wither  nor  custom  stale.” 
The  recognised  importance  of  it  in  relation  to-  high-class 
gardening  provides  a  pertinent  excuse  for  this  preamble  to  a 
.subject  which  for  nearly  forty  years  has  enmeshed  the  writer 
witii  its  glamour;  and  in  looking  back  there  comes  from  afar 
off,  yet  clear  and  distinct  as  a  lighthouse  flash  over  troubled 
waters,  the  hopes  and  fears,  the  joys  and  griefs  surrounding 
flower  .show  feuds  fought  out  with  our  specim.'U  plants  on  tlu; 
battlefields  of  Stonewal Ishire.  There  we  of  the  bothy,  though 
not  .sharing  the  prize  money,  could  not  be  denied  our  (|Uota  of 
the  glory  of  success  or  the  depression  of  defeat.  Added  to  this 
the  high  tone  a  collection  of  well-grown  stove  plants  gives  to  a 
garden,  the  watchfulness,  care,  and  .skill  necessary  to  bring  them 
to  and  keep  them  in  perfection,  nO'  more  need  bo  said  for  the 
claims  this  phase  of  gardening  posse.sses ;  and  the  encomium 
passed  by  Dickens’s  immortal  IMrs.  Pipchin  on  Dr.  Blimber  s 
establishment,  “It’s  very  expensive,”  is  all  that  can  be  said 
against  it.  Few  will  deny  the  latter,  therefore  most  will  admit 
that  the  better  the  return  for  expense  incurred  the  greater  the 
satisfaction  to  all  concerned.  With  one  remark,  viz.,  that  the 
pre.sent  time  is  f/ic  time  to  commence  operations,  for  “ill-limed 
advice,  like  the  wrong  medicine,  is  nasty  to  take  and  sure  to 
disagree,”  and  an  apology  for  so  much  tuning  with  the  object  of 
strilung  a  chord  of  inspiration  amongst  cur  young  gardener'^, 
we  come  to 
The  Pl.vnt  Stove  and  Peopagation. 
The  size  or  form  of  the  house,  with  its  heating  and  v.  ntilating 
appliances,  although  of  the  first  importance,  is  probably,  perhaps 
unfortunately,  less  a  matter  of  our  concern  than  it  has  been  to- 
our  predecessors  who  were  concerned  in  and  responsible  for  its- 
erection.  Happy  is  the  man  who,  being  keenly  interested  in 
this  subject,  ha.s  all  he  wants  in  this  direction.  For  many  years 
it  was  the  writer’s  desire  to  have  a  propagating  house  for  this 
class  of  plants — one  after  his  own  heart  and  design — which  is 
now  an  fait  accompli  ;  but  it  came  late  in  life,  tliough  bettei- 
late  than  never,  for  it  is  an  invaluable  adjunct  to  the  stove  houx. 
proper.  The  propagating  house  in  question  is  a  low  span-roof 
with  heated  plunging  beds,  commanding  a  temperature  of  80deg 
to  90deg,  and  the  propagating  medium  (cocoa  fibre  refuse),  filling 
the  beds  to  a  foot  in  depth;  and  it  may  be  taken  for  granted, 
that  cuttings  of  stove  plants,  generally,  winch  do  not  root  in 
this  will  not  root  at  all,  added  to  the  clean,  expeditious,  and, 
all-round  satisfactory  manner  by  which  they  are  transfornu'd 
into  little  plants  ready  tor  potting  and  replunging  in  the  same 
material  to  give  them  a  proper  start  in  life. 
By  the  way,  a  trial  is  now  being  made  of  granulated  peat 
moss  litter  as  a  propagating  medium,  having  been  recommended 
as  superior  for  the  purpose;  but  of  that  more  anon.  In  any 
case  it  is  cheaper  than  the  fibre,  an  advantage  which  cannot  be 
overlooked,  considering  that  the  beds  have  to  be  wholly  or  partly 
renewed  annually.  As  a  matter  of  fact,  however,  given  the 
tropical  heat  and  moisture  unintcrmittently  maintained,  cut¬ 
tings  of  .stove  plants  will  root  in  nearly  any  medium  that  may 
be  employed,  such  as  sawdust  or  rough  leaf  mould.  As  a  substi¬ 
tute,  or  "rather  makeshift,  for  the  propagating  pit  proper,  q 
warm  corner  of  the  ])lant  stove,  in  which  a  glazed  box  or  fraiui' 
can  be  placed  immediately  on  the  hot-water  pipes  answers  thq 
imrpose,  although  its  usefuliie.'s  is  restricted  to  its  size,  which, 
seldom  allows  for  replunging  youthful  plants  when  potted,  or 
hospital  treatment  for  the  sick.  Cuttings  of  Crotons,  Dracama.s, 
with  their  cut  up  stems  and  root  pieces,  Diefl'enbachias, 
Nepenthes,  and  all  the  variabilia  which  go  to  form  the  coP  -c- 
tion  and  keep  the  tropical  plant  hou.se  furnished,  arc'  now 
being  inserted — a  work  which  will  be  continued  throughout 
Febniary,  when  there  will  be  stock  galore  for  all  purpose^, 
and  to  spare. 
Anomalous  as  it  may  appear,  many  hardy  plants  of  a  shrubby 
nature  which  are  wholly  impatient  of  heat  may  be  propagated  liy 
this  method,  the  secret  of  after  success  being  the  gradual  inuring 
of  them  to  their  natural  conditions.  For  instance,  cuttings  of 
Tamarix  gallica  which  failed  to  root  under  cool  treatment  (piickly 
responded  to  the  genial  influence  of  the  hot  plunging  bed, 
sections  of  the  hard  wood  being  inserted,  rooted,  potted,  and 
gradually  hardened  off.  This  was  done  last  summer,  and  tin' 
plants,  now  two  feet  high,  are  growing  an  naturel  in  the  open. 
Leaves  of  the  Rex  Begonias  taken  off  now  and  laid  on  the  surface 
